Debs, Eugene V.
Debs, Eugene V. (1855–1926), Socialist, presidential candidate, war opponent.Born of French immigrant parents in Terre Haute, Indiana, Debs became active in the labor movement in the 1870s and created the American Railway Union (ARU), an industrial union, in 1893. Following the federal government's smashing of the ARU‐led Pullman Strike (1894), Debs slowly became convinced that corporate or monopoly capitalism could not be reformed, gravitated toward the socialist movement, and became its best‐known leader and five‐time presidential candidate of the Socialist Party of America.
In 1917, Debs led the socialist opposition to U.S. entry into World War I, which he condemned as an imperialist war fought for the interests of the trusts. Arrested for an antiwar, antidraft speech at Canton, Ohio, on 15 June 1918, Debs began serving a ten‐year sentence at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in April 1919....
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